Date: Thu, 11 Aug 1994 12:28:37 GMT+1200
From: Tim Behrend
Subject: Re: your male type cats
On Wednesday, 10 August, Tim Frazer (mftcf[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UXA.ECN.BGU.EDU) wrote:
I have always thought the male/female thing on dogs and cats
was pretty universal, not regional. Aren't cats always "she" in
nursery rhymes?
Not always so for nursery rhymes and folktales. Remember
Puss'n'Boots? In our own day, the presence of tomcats like Felix the
Cat, Fritz, Tom (and Jerry), Topcat, Garfield and other cartoon
characters pretty strongly affirms feline masculinity. So do such
expressions as catting around (but not catty), and terms like cat
(beat culture), fat cat, cat house, cat burglar, cat-o'-nine-tails.
Ideolectically, for me all domestic animals are pretty much "it"s,
with no sense of discomfort or apology to anthropomorphist owners.
On the the it-ification of babies, though, while I do find myself
using it, I always feel dissonance and have a sense that its a bit
inappropriate.
Back to "whut"--Don Lance said I'mn asking a complicated
question, but I can't resist this simple survey: How many of
you out there, just off the top of your head, would regard the
"whut" spelling a s eye dialect?
I'm curious what the exact meaning of "eye dialect" is. Any
definitions handy for a non-dialectologist?
Tim Behrend
Asian Languages, University of Auckland
Tim